1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a wheeled cargo-carrying vehicle, and more particularly concerns a trailer adapted to dump its cargo downwardly upon the ground in a single discharge.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Bottom dump vehicles or wagons are frequently used to transport a variety of dense bulk materials such as sand, gravel, salt, hot mix asphalt, coal, ores, and the like. One primary advantage of a bottom dump trailer or truck as opposed to a conventional hydraulic hoist dump truck is that there is no need for vertical elevation to discharge the cargo rearwardly. As such, bottom dump vehicles do not have the risks associated with conventional hydraulic hoist dump trucks such as interference with low electrical or telephone wires and the potential for tipping over due to vertical elevation of a hoisted cargo compartment. Another advantage is that bottom dump vehicles do not require expensive and failure-prone hydraulic systems employed in rear-dump hauling vehicles.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,183,852 and 3,558,190 disclose hopper cars having horizontally slideable gates or doors to control downward discharge of the contents of the hopper in order to produce an elongated windrow instead of a single large pile. One of the problems encountered with a single large pile is that the rear wheels of the vehicle ride on the sides of the pile, resulting in considerable damage to the sidewalls of the tires on said rear wheels. Also, the pile will impact against an axle associated with the rear wheels. Said sliding doors require expensive heavy duty motors for operation, and the doors are subject to rapid wear due to friction created by sliding interaction with the cargo material.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,386,818 to Reed and U.S. Pat. No. 3,917,084 to Swisher, et. al., disclose “live bottom” trailers which employ a horizontally oriented conveyor belt at the bottom of a cargo compartment to move the cargo rearwardly for controlled dumping to produce an elongated windrow.
Bottom dumping vehicles designed to discharge in a single dump farm products such cotton and hay are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,362,457 and 3,698,767, respectively. However, said vehicles are designed to discharge their loads as integrated or shaped structures, and do not confront the need to travel over the discharged load.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,540,812 and 6,705,681 disclose bottom dumping carts designed to discharge their cargo downwardly, and then travel over and away from the pile of dumped cargo. Such carts employ pivoted floor panels that can be released to swing downwardly by virtue of weight of the falling cargo. The rear wall of the cart is hingedly suspended to permit upward and rearward displacement by the pile of dumped cargo as the cart travels forwardly. Following the dumping step, operating means restore the cart to its cargo hauling state by raising and securing the floor panels, and securing the rear wall. Earlier disclosed operating means have, however, been of complex construction, difficult to operate, and lacking in durability.
It is accordingly an object of the present invention to provide a farm trailer cart that can dump a loose bulk cargo downwardly upon the ground in a single discharge pile and then be pulled over and away from said pile.
It is another object of this invention to provide means for operating a cart of the foregoing object, said operating means being easy and safe to use, of rugged construction and amenable to low cost manufacture.
These objects and other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description.